Since yesterday, I began noticing a very strange phenomena. When I look at a moving object, I see a ghost image trailing it. I looked up this phenomenon and it's called palinopsia and it usually indicates a lesion in the back part of the brain. Well, I've been having symptoms of a brain tumor for more than a month now, but this new phenomena has left me completely paralyzed. I'm seeing a neurologist on Monday, but I'm not sure how long I can last before I completely lose my mind. The thought of dying of cancer is one thing, but the thought of dying from a brain tumor has to be the worst. As they progress, the tumors rob you of everything that makes you YOU. Both my parents could care less about my concerns and that makes the isolation all the worse. I pray that when I see the neurologist on Monday, I can get a CT scan or MRI as soon as possible. The fact that palinopsia is a dead-on sign of a brain tumor has a given me anxiety on a level I have never experienced before. I'm starting my last semester of college at the end of this month, and if I can't get a definitive answer on what's causing my symptoms, I don't know how I'll be able to function. Anyways, I apologize for the long rant. Sometimes writing about my fears helps me cope.

You know. Anxiety is a strange beast and it WANTS us to be afraid all the time.

You said you've just noticed these motion trails but you could have had them for ages, forever even, and have just never noticed them until your anxiety did and said. 'Hey. This seems new! Maybe we could add it to the worry you're already going through?'

When in reality you're combining your symptoms by searching unconnected symptoms and making leaps of logic to make sure they connect into your biggest fear.

I'm not judging! I've definitely done that myself in the past before!

I haven't been following your posts up until now. So I don't know what symptoms you have that make you fear a brain tumour. But my friend had one and he didn't get a stack of different symptoms. He got one that just progressively worsened. You see, brain tumours affect a certain part of your brain at a time. So you usually only get one symptom at a time that sets off warning signs for medical professionals.

Eg. My friend lost all the peripheral vision in his eyes. All of it. And when he went to have his eyes tested about his 'funny vision' she sent him straight away - that DAY for an urgent MRI. She knew instantly that something wasnt right using the training and education shed had.

Only once the tumour spreads would you see other symptoms and I don't think they'd pop up that quickly.

Oh. And my friend is completely fine now. He takes medication to control it and that's it. He didn't even need surgery :)

One more bit of advice? NEVER google your symptoms. Simply put, we just haven't got the knowledge and training to interpret what we think we know and what we read. We're also biased as we are looking up info that we believe personally affects us. A few days of reading about symptoms doesn't put us in the same range as experts who have spent years learning about physiology etc :)

Thanks so much. Hearing that from you reminds me of just how POWERFUL anxiety and it's effects on the body can be. One thing that I missed before is that everyone has a degree of palinopsia. It's just that those with serious problems have it much more pronounced. Oh, and one last thing I should have taken into account. Increased palinopsia can be caused by psychiatric illness (which I have in spades). I'm going to the ophthalmologist in a few minutes. Hopefully, he can help me put this nightmare to bed.

My visual trails started when I was freaking out about my vision. After images came when I was searching for them. Do these get worse over time or does being over vigillant/ worried make them worse? Also, is it true that once were aware of these visuals, we will always have them?

I too suffer from this. If I move my hand too fast I see trails as well. I thought it was indicative of MS or a brain tumor and so I went through all of these tests (CT scan, MRI) only to find out it was nothing. Sometimes these visual phenomena happen without explanation. While they are scary, most of the time they are from benign causes.

Well, I went to the ophthalmologist yesterday and he sure didn't help me feel any better. He said I need to see a neuro-ophthalmologist and that he'd recommend one. Screw it. I'm going to the neurologist I already have an appointment with on Monday, and I WILL have an MRI or a CT scan or whatever. I have never in the history of my life, had anxiety so bad that I have begun thinking about how I will come to terms with death. Also, FreakOutQueen, I can see trails when I move my arm relatively slowly. They're about an inch or two behind me and more pronounced depending on the surrounding light levels. In an unexpected turn of events, my parents have suddenly become very supportive of me, and my mother personally knows the neurologist I am going to as she has worked with him in the past (my mother's an RN). I pray I don't have to wait weeks for a scan. If it weren't for my supply of Xanax, I would lose my mind completely. Well, thanks for the responses, guys. It's nice to know that I'm not the only person who has gone through this and I wish all of you well.